SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.

Nike has launched its TV ad for the 2010 World Cup, featuring some of the world's top football players and Homer Simpson. Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott feature along with cameo appearances from Kobe Bryant and Homer Simpson.

The third of our end of season awards, in association with Castrol Rankings, is the Serie A Team of the Season. The formation of 4-2-1-3 worked for Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan as they won the title, so let's stick with that.

The second of our end of season awards, in association with Castrol Rankings, is the La Liga Team of the Season. With Barcelona and Real Madrid both finishing well clear of the rest of the field, it's an amazingly loaded team; let's just hope for more diversity next season. They line up in the 4-2-3-1 formation that has become so popular this season.

As the dust settles on another Champions League season, many players have shown themselves to be heroes in Europe. There can, however, only be eleven names in our Champions League Team of the Season. Here, we pick out the outstanding performers from this season's competition.

Tucked away in their mum's upstairs bedroom with nothing but a tin-foil helmet, the X-Files box set and detailed diagrams of the Kennedy assassination to keep them company, the conspiracy theorists are a strange bunch. But this week, they have been let loose on the World Cup thanks to Kevin-Prince Boateng's loose tackle on Michael Ballack and Lord Triesman's even looser tongue.

Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Salomon Kalou, Didier Zokora, Yaya Toure... the list of international stars to have emerged from Asec Mimosa's Academy is remarkable. But why should one club, and one country have had so much success?

Debrecen, one of Liverpool’s opponents in this season’s Champions League, are being investigated over allegations of match-fixing. The claims relate to the Hungarian champions’ match against Fiorentina in October.

The centre back is thought to have been referring to Javier Mascherano, who has expressed an interest in joining Barcelona, but his words of warning are equally pertinent to Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, whose futures at Anfield are also uncertain.

Set against a backdrop of political uncertainty and shorn of the illuminating genius of the world's finest footballer in Johan Cruyff, the 11th staging of the World Cup was perhaps the most controversial of them all.

Barcelona confirmed: "FC Barcelona and Valencia CF closed a €40m deal for Spanish striker David Villa on Wednesday morning... He will make an appearance on the Camp Nou pitch [on Friday]. The stadium doors will be opened to the public."

Monday, May 17, 2010

Barcelona and Inter claimed the top prize in Spain and Italy, respectively. Chelsea edged Pompey to nab the 2010 FA Cup. Michael Ballack is out of the World Cup due to an injury sustained in Saturday's match. Chelsea are also reportedly lining up a mega-bid for Fernando Torres. More on Thursday...